Tuesday's summit meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un marks a turning point but caution is still necessary

President Donald Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un (Photo by Shealagh Craighead, Office of the President of the US/Wikipedia)

The incredible has happened. The president of the United States of America and the supreme leader of North Korea have met and shaken hands.

The two countries fought a war from 1950 to 1953 and have looked upon each other with great hostility ever since.

Their Tuesday meeting marks a turning point. It raises hopes for a genuine peace process on the hypermilitarized Korean peninsula, where the local population feel extremely vulnerable.

Moreover, the objective of completely denuclearizing the two Koreas is mentioned in the final communiqué from the meeting.

Yet, caution is still necessary. The Pyongyang regime is a past master at breaking promises and President Trump is also capable of great capriciousness.

In addition, the USA and North Korea are each pursuing quite different objectives. Pyongyang wants to loosen the grip of the international sanctions adopted after its recent nuclear testing campaign.

On one hand, in order to perpetuate his dynastic and dictatorial power, Kim Jong-un needs to ensure a certain level of well-being to his people as well as to dissuade any external aggressor from acting.

As a result, he will only abandon nuclear arms in exchange for extremely solid guarantees.

On the other hand, Trump will not accept North Korea having the capacity to threaten the US with a nuclear attack.

After decades of sterile and useless confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang, he is aiming to break the deadlock by making use of negotiating tactics based on his instincts and egotism.

He also wants to reduce the bill for military protection of South Korea and to be able to focus attention in Asia on China.

In order to bring together two leaders with such antagonistic interests, a third party was necessary.

This was South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, who played the role of intermediary.

Reconciliation certainly has a great need for such discreet, patient and visionary artisans of peace.

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